The Dirty Game

by Solomon Carter

  The laugh came again. It was a laugh which said you’ll never buy a place like this.

  “Where is it? I want to boast to my friends,” the girl was persistent. Eva admired her. The voice was edgy with fear, Eva heard it clearly, but maybe the man was too excited by his own plans. “What does it matter if you know…? This is Belview Park Drive. If you like it, wait until you see the bedroom…”

  Belview Park Drive. It’s four miles to Belview Park Drive from the office. Twelve minutes - with no traffic…

  “Dan!” said Eva laying a hand over her mobile as she walked into the front room. The room was filled with the sound of movie gunfire and strobe-like flashes from the screen. Dan was too engrossed to pay attention. Eva strode across his view and turned the television off. Dan threw his hands up in the air, then he saw the seriousness of Eva’s face…

  “I think it’s Luisa.”

  “What?” Dan took a second before he jumped to his feet and snatched up his coat.

  “I think she’s with the killer…”

  “Damn, that’s quick!” said Dan. “He’s gotten the taste for this…”

  Eva put a finger to her lips to silence Dan. She strained to hear the phone.

  “What a nice place. And look, you even have two cars. A nice green car parked on your drive.”

  There – the girl’s voice was strained now.

  “That car’s not nice. That’s a piece of crap. You really know nothing, do you?” said the other voice.

  “Can we talk out here before we go in? I like to talk first…” said the girl, trying to delay any way she could.

  “I… don’t like talking much.”

  The car engine stopped and the mobile phone line went dead. Eva picked up her coat and threw it over her cardigan and leggings.

  “We need to go now, Dan. Belview Park Drive. Door number unknown. Luisa gave us a crucial detail – there’s a green car parked on the driveway that can be seen from the street.”

  “That’s why she took the bloody risk. He wasn’t driving a green car. The bastard could butcher her before we get there, come on…”

  With no time, and everything against them, neither one wanted to speak the truth. The likelihood was that Luisa would be dead before they arrived… if they could even find the place.

  Twenty-four

  The Jag growled angrily at every red light. They caught three in a row in Westcliff, and they had a string more yet to come. “No, no on, come on!” shouted Dan. A minute later he swung the Jag across a road junction just before an oncoming van could stop them dead. The van blared its horn all the way down the road. It didn’t! Tonight a girl was going to live or die. More than that, if it didn’t end tonight, another, then another would die afterwards. There was no way Dan was going to be late because of red lights. He took the rat runs, avoiding the main drag, and took them all at speed. Eva looked at him a couple of times, but she knew he was right. They’d both been drinking, and if the police pulled them over they were screwed. But any notion of playing it safe and sensible was long since left behind.

  In spite of the lights Dan got them to the mouth of Belview Park Drive in thirteen minutes. Eva had been counting. How long could the girl keep herself alive through blather and blagging? She seemed good at it, but the killer would be hungry and twitchy.

  “This is a big bloody road, Eva,” said Dan, looking left and right as he drove along. Belview was a long residential dual carriageway road, but not the sort anyone could drive down quickly. There was a very wide central reservation with tall trees and flower beds all along it, which acted as a barrier to having a clear view of one side of the road from the other. The road was also winding, and the large four and five bedroom houses looked almost identical to one another. On one side the houses backed Kingsleigh across the borough line, and on the other side the houses backed onto the beginning of the dark Belview Wood, a sizeable forest with a golf course. Beautiful by day, but pitch black and treacherous by night. The treeline rose like a vast frozen tsunami wave behind the big houses, Eva felt a chill. Please no, not in the woods. They would never find them if they had gone into the woods.

  They reached the end of the long winding road. “I didn’t see a green car, did you?”

  Eva shook her head. It was eighteen minutes since the call ended. Eighteen minutes was a long time to try and postpone your execution. “Now try the other side, but drive closer and slow along by the wood side houses.”

  “That’s what we did, Eva!” snapped Dan before he threw the car into a loop which took it back onto the other side of the road, heading towards Leigh and Southend. Dan looked full of simmering rage. He stared at each house as they passed, slowing too long as the car behind pressed up close. He pointed three houses along as something caught his eye. “Look. There’s a green car parked up there.” He pulled back out onto the carriageway and sped up before jerking the car to a sudden halt. Dan, switched off the engine. He got out of the car while Eva stayed in her seat. “No, Dan. It’s not this one.”

  “What? It’s the only green car we’ve seen this whole journey.”

  “It’s not the right one, Dan.”

  “Come on then. Enlighten me,” he was angry, taking it out on her but she let it go.

  “That car is a green Lexus. It’s big and it’s smart and it’s an 08 plate, which says it’s not new, but it’s certainly not an old saloon like Luisa and her friend described.”

  Dan shook his head. He looked at the car. The big white and black mock-Tudor house had one light on upstairs. Enough light to kill someone by. Dan hissed and slapped the roof of the jag and got back into the driver’s seat in a hurry.

  “You better be right, Eva.”

  “I know I better. Just keep looking.”

  They pushed on, quicker now. It was twenty-four minutes since the phone call and Eva was terrified for Luisa’s prospects. They saw every shade of car colour as they pushed along. Finally, Eva caught sight of something worth looking at.

  “There!”

  “What?”

  “Down that side road, I’m sure I saw a green car. We’ve got to try there.”

  “But that’s not Belview Park Drive, Eva. This is Belview Park Drive.”

  “What if the guy was giving Luisa half-truths? What if he meant Belview Park Drive area?”

  Dan nodded. He pulled the car over and let the traffic behind pass by before he reversed with his foot on the accelerator. The Jag whined and sped back quicker than was safe or comfortable. As soon as they’d passed the road, he jerked the steering wheel hard left.

  “Birchwood close.” said Dan.

  “Yeah. Look on the left side.”

  Dan looked. He didn’t see any green cars. He saw a blue Porsche Boxter, a silver Audi TT, a new metallic Orange Mondeo… plenty of cars and nothing green.

  “What are you talking about, Eva. It’s been almost half an hour now. That girl could be dead by now!”

  Eva spoke in an even tone. “She could be dead no matter what time we made it here.”

  “We haven’t made it anywhere.”

  “Yes we have. Look.”

  She pointed two houses along to a big white house with a sloping driveway. The first part of the drive was occupied by a black car. They moved past it and parked up. It was a black Volvo, a newer model estate. Behind it, on the downward part of the driveway slope, right beside the house, was a green Toyota. It was metallic. It was old. It was a piece of crap. The tops of the trees rose up all around the back of the houses here. Birchwood Close was almost a part of the woods. The houses were as big here as out on Belview Park Drive, but it felt more secluded and exclusive. And right now, it felt as dangerous as any place they’d been…

  “Did you bring any weapons?” Dan said to Eva as he unclipped his seatbelt.

  “No. I thought weapons was your department.”

  “Shit. That maniac will be armed. We’re going to have to improvise.”

  “Like always.”

  “Yep. And one other
thing. Be prepared for anything. By now that poor girl could be in pieces all over the kitchen table.”

  “We did our best, Dan.”

  “So let’s see if it was good enough.”

  They opened the doors, and got out. It was freezing. But with adrenaline circulating through their bodies at an industrial rate neither of them felt the slightest bit cold. The house was lit from deep within. The light was emanating from the hallway and the upstairs landing – the kind of amateur burglar deterrent most people used when they left the house.

  “They won’t be in the dark,” said Dan. “If he’s brought her home he’ll want the light on to enjoy his moment. If you want to kill in the dark you do that in an alley way.”

  “Or in the woods,” said Eva. Dan looked at her.

  “Or in the woods. But there’s no bodies been found there.”

  They walked along the driveway past the front door, peering into the frosted glass to detect any movement. There was none. On they went. Their feet padded alongside the old Toyota and they peered in. At least one Romanian girl had gone missing because of that car. Thoughts about the culprit fizzed and flickered amid the tension. Dan slipped his hand over the back gate and pulled at the bolt. The green painted gate was now free, and Dan put his hand against the hinge and pulled the gate back achingly slow to prevent a tell-tale creak. He hooked the gate onto the wall as Eva peered into the dark garden. The garden was a big square with a black wall of trees towering up immediately behind it. At the back of the garden was one of those new-fangled sheds that people used as a living space or a study. It was brightly coloured, but in the moonlight looked grey. On their left was a pre-fabricated garage building, its door blocked by the front bumper of the green Toyota. Dan turned left alongside the house. Big French glass doors overlooked the garden at the back. They were completely dark but for the paltry light coming from the hallway behind. Dan slid his head over the edge of the door and peered in. The room was empty, very empty. There was plastic sheeting over a three piece suite. He ushered Eva over to take a look.

  “Empty?”

  “Maybe… and convenient for bad activity.”

  “But two cars on the drive?” They whispered.

  “Part of the strategy, maybe. Two cars make the murderer more difficult to pin down,” said Dan, not sure if he was right. It was an idea. Dan moved in front of the door, tested the lock and the door slid open a small way. He took a look back at the shed office building. There was no light coming from the windows, so far they were unseen.

  “I want to look in here,” said Dan.

  “Okay, I’ll check the other buildings,” said Eva.

  Eva’s hopes were fading. The car was the right colour, but there were no signs of anyone around.

  ***

  Dan walked into the room, his shoes sliding on the plastic sheet that covered the floor. He kept his breath light and thin, as if he was breathing at high altitude as sweat from tension began to slide down his neck and bead up on his brow. He moved to the hallway, opening the door, letting the light pour over him. The hallway was neat with old-school brass light fittings, a beech wood floor with a central line of cream carpet all the way from the front door and continuing up the stairs. He saws two options – a door to another reception room, unlit, and a door to a cupboard, possibly a basement. He wanted something from this place, as much as he wanted the killer, he wanted information. He turned left quickly, and moved in silence towards the kitchen near the front door. There was junk mail at the doorway. No good – just takeaway menus and double-glazing leaflets. But there was mail in the kitchen. On the worktop, there was a heap of envelopes slung together. Dan snatched them up and strained his eyes.

  “The occupier”

  “Damson Holdings Ltd”

  “Damson Holdings Ltd”

  “R.P Fergus.”

  He tore open the letter for RP Fergus and scanned it hungrily. This would be the resident, and possibly the killer. He stuffed the letter into his jacket pocket, along with the letters addressed to Damson Holdings. Excited, he turned to the hallway and walked to the cupboard door. He seized the handle and pulled it open, no longer caring for subterfuge. That time was over. The darkness behind the door opened up before him – it was a stairwell to a basement. Adrenaline flowed through him, and the hairs stood up on the back of his neck. He was ready to do what was necessary. Taking one last listen for noise upstairs and hearing nothing he took the first step down. Below, there was silence and the dank smell which seemed to come from all such places. Yes, Dan remembered that smell very well.

  ***

  Eva walked through long grass which reached her calfs. The lawns had not been cut in weeks. She was acutely aware of the rustling sound of her footfall, and tried to limit it by lifting her feet higher and planting them down from above. It didn’t change a thing so she pressed on quickly to the summer house shed. She pressed her face to the glass and saw wicker furniture within, along with a kettle, a small fridge and a television. On the wicker sofa she noticed a rolled up sleeping bag and a tin cup on a low coffee table. There was also a dated silver framed flat screen TV by one wall. Someone had been staying here in an unusual set up. They’d been using the shed and not the massive house it belonged to… it didn’t make sense… There was a gentle thud nearby. Eva wheeled round and looked about her. The noise was muffled. She strained her eyes and looked now at the garage. Beneath the door she noticed the merest line of light – a line so fine it could have been drawn by an architect’s pen. She moved quickly, very quickly now. She looked at the old door handle of the garage – not rusty but no longer shiny with age and took a breath. The handle would almost certainly be noisy. It would almost certainly give her away. But there was no other choice. The door handle was rough cold metal. Her shaking hand plunged the handle down.

  “Hello…” said a voice within, neutral, calm, welcoming. The scene inside was anything but. A plain lightbulb hung from the roof, small and dim. The light inside was fortified by three desk lamps all aimed at a workbench in the middle of the room. There were racks and stacks of metal drawers as an organised DIY enthusiast or craftsman would keep in his garage. But there laying on the workbench was a naked female form, youthful olive-brown skin, shapely and feminine, laying on her back, her head of hair splayed out around her, arranged like a shining black halo. Eva took in every detail. The way the girl’s legs had been parted and left open, as if her genitals were to be medically examined. The girl wasn’t moving. Her eyes were shut. Fear, nausea and anger surged and took control of Eva.

  “Who are you?” said a young man. He wore spectacles, wore a dated patterned woolly jumper and had scruffy hair. He wore corded brown trousers. He was seated in an old deckchair in the corner of the garage, a scarf wrapped around his neck. As soon as he spoke, he stood and tossed the novel he’d been reading into the chair beneath him.

  “What the hell are you doing? Is she dead?” said Eva.

  The young man began to falter, his eyes looked away. She saw he was trying to speak, but he couldn’t utter a word.

  “TELL ME!” Eva shouted, stepped across to the man, seizing him by his scarf. “IS SHE DEAD?” She shouted. “How many? You bastard, how many have you killed?”

  ***

  In the darkness, Dan heard Eva’s shout. He moved back and ran up the stairs into the hallway light. Fully alive, anxious, his senses razor sharp. He stopped in the hallway. He saw new light coming in to the reception room at the front of the house. He stuck his head into the room and peered out through the window. Car headlights were slowly coming to a halt out, shifting the shadows around the room. Dan looked at the car, trying to identify it. An ice cold feeling poured down his back and seized him as he looked the car. The car almost drew to a halt and then it didn’t. The car whined in reverse and swerved back into a U turn. There was no chance that Dan could reach that car before the bastard made his getaway, but maybe if he could just get a better look…

  Dan ran to the window and stared after
the car. He caught the first four digits of the registration EY64. And he caught the sleek model type. It was a dark colour, blue or black, and it was the latest generation Jaguar. Maybe it was enough… now he ran for the French doors to find Eva.

  ***

  The bright lights made Dan squint as sweat poured off his brow. He walked into the garage and his eyes adjusted. He looked at the workbench and saw Luisa, the beautiful young girl, limp and naked. Eva’s face was a mass of flickering emotion, she was holding a thin young man in her hands, holding him by a scarf and jumper. His nose was bleeding, and there was a trail of blood in the corner of his mouth. He whimpered as Dan entered, Eva let him fall to his knees. Dan moved to the workbench. He walked around the girl, he touched her neck, applying pressure, and found what he was looking for. A steady pulse. He lowered his ear to her lips and felt her breathe.

  “She’s alive” said Dan.

  Eva nodded. “Yes. He gives them a sedative to make them sleep. Then he brings them in here. Then he carves them up.”

  “You should have hit much harder.”

  “I wanted to, believe me. I wanted to kill him.”

  “But he’s not the only one involved here.”

  Dan gave Luisa some dignity by snatching an oil covered blanket from a wall rack. He draped it over her body. Eva’s face screwed up with the question “What?”

  “You’re not the only one in this mess, are you, pal?”

  The young man looked up at Dan and covered his eyes from the light.

  “Who else was going to join you here tonight?”

  Realisation dawned on Eva’s face. She pulled the man up by his scarf and his jumper. He groaned in despair.

  “You were waiting for someone – when I opened the door, you thought I was that person. Who were you waiting for? Tell me”

  “I can’t tell you…”

  “You know what?” said Dan, standing at Eva’s said. “I’m getting sick of hearing people tell me that they can’t tell me something...”